Hungary has sold telecom spectrum to four mobile operators – Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Telenor and Digi – for $530 million.
By mobilizing 130.6 billion forint from spectrum sale, the government has over achieved its revenue target and expanded the field of mobile phone service providers. Earlier, the target of the government was 104 billion forint.
Bloomberg in its report said Magyar Telekom, the local unit of Deutsche Telekom, as well as the subsidiaries of Vodafone Group and Telenor, the three incumbent service providers won frequency blocks for 20-year periods. Digi Kft is the local telecom service provider. By adding Digi, the telecom regulator increased the number of mobile phone service providers to four.
Hungary invited bids for the country’s unused mobile frequencies in May after the results of a previous tender were annulled by a local court citing serious procedural law infringements.
The report said Hungary introduced a special tax and a utility levy on telecom companies as it seeks to keep the budget deficit within a European Union limit of 3 percent of output. The government originally targeted revenue of 104 billion forint from the frequency sale.
Magyar Telekom bought frequency blocks in the 800, 900, 1,800 and 2,600 MHZ bands for a total of 58.7 billion forint.
Vodafone Hungary will pay 30.2 billion forint, Telenor 31.7 billion forint and Digi 10 billion forint for the awarded blocks.
The media regulator known as NMHH said in a statement today that fees are due within the next 10 days.
